Painting

Painting in Flash is similar to most vector based applications. For a description of what a vector is click here.

To paint in Flash you must first select the paint brush from the tool box. The options menu in the tool bar will change to give you more painting options.

The lower of the two pull down menus lets you select several different brush strokes. The pull down menu controls brush size. The icon with the lock is to lock the fill area. The last icon is the brush mode.

• Paint Normal: paints over lines and fills on the same layer.
• Paint Fills: paints fills and empty areas, leaving lines unaffected.
• Paint Behind: paint in blank areas of the stage on the same layer, leaving lines and fills unaffected.
• Paint Selections: will only allow you to paint on a selection
• Paint Inside: paints inside a fill, you must began your stroke inside the fill.

After selecting a brush size and the paint mode you wish to use, clicks on the stage to begin painting. If you wish to change the colors, select the paint with the selection tool and change the fill color in the fill selector in the tool bar. If you wish to change the appearance of your painted area you can choose to smooth or straighten your line. You do this by clicking on the smooth or straighten button in the options menu of the tool bar when your paint is selected.

You can also use your direct selection tool to edit the anchor points or the paths of the painted selection. To do this click on the direct selection tool in the tool bar and with that tool select the paint area you wish to manipulate.